About Young&Hitched

Posts by Young&Hitched:

Ever since I got pregnant with Sophia we have started using the terms “Baby #1, Baby #2” etc – or if we’re feeling extra street we go for “B1 and B2”. It’s a quite nice way of objectifying your children in a systemized way, isn’t it?

So I just put B1 down for a nap. It only took her 1,5 hours to fall asleep because she just won’t stop talking these days. Conversation seems to be her favorite thing, and she’s never put out by the fact that there isn’t really anything to talk about. She’ll just bring up the tree she can see or a random person we saw in church on Sunday. Just mentioning a name or object will do – then she passes the ball to me. But when we’re lying down for a nap she quickly adapts to the one-way conversation and feels no discomfort with keeping it going for long minutes at a time. Yep, she’s not really a B anymore at all.

I let the secret out on Instagram and Facebook a couple of days ago that I am expecting! Our new little family member is due February and so I’m just about to finally flee the first trimester.

I say flee because the first trimester is of course never fun – but in truth the past three months were no where near is bad (like not even anywhere close) as it was last time around. When I was pregnant with Sophia I spent those terrible weeks pretty much exclusively indoors and horizontal force feeding myself bananas, raisins and risengrød.
So this time I braced myself for the week 6 trauma, cleaning the toilet every day just in case, but all that came was mild nausea, loss of appetite and real fatigue. I’ve been able to keep on with my life and thankfully to go on our (more…)

Baby girls wear pink and flowers. They wear headbands with bows and sometimes even cute little earrings, and if any clothing item or accessory glitters or has ruffles it’s only an added bonus. Or so most people seem to think, except for me.

I was forewarned when I gave birth to a little girl that if I didn’t follow the approved baby girl dress code as set forth by… Disney princesses? that I would have to deal with strangers’ mistaking my daughter for a boy. “Tut tut!” said I, “my principles are more important than what other people think!”
And so I braved the storm of forced smiles and awkward silences with my blue-clad undazzled and deruffled short-haired child in (more…)

It’s that time of year when after it’s been warm for a couple of weeks it seems like you’re in a whole new world and the rest of the past year is centuries ago. So here’s a sneak peak into our world lately. (more…)

We’re “suffering” from a heat wave here in Dublin. It’s been 20-21 degrees the last few days and apparently it may not happen again. So we’ve made it an extra high priority to be outside.

Last Saturday we decided to go up to Howth. It’s a cute little fishing town on the cliffs north of the city. On our way up there we suddenly noticed that we were on the wrong train and had to get off and catch a train to go back a few stops. When it was already too late we found out that we’d gotten on a fast train back to Dublin. *Facepalm* Although for a second there Marcus was thinking about giving up we finally boarded the right train and got to Howth a few hours later than expected. It was a good thing we were with good friends and could laugh about it right away.
But we agreed that it was totally worth the hassle. Howth is full of small streets and sail boats and the evening sun only made (more…)

I heard someone say recently that their favorite part about parenting was seeing the triumph in their kids’ eyes when they finally accomplished something hard.

This past month has brought many opportunities for me to experience that! It is the best.
I keep telling Marcus that it seems she aged a year when she turned 20 months. Her patience has prolonged, her listening intensified and her words sweetened. Several times every day she’ll walk into the room saying “Hi!”, run and snuggle up on the couch next to me and talk my ears off in long endless sentences. If she accidentally steps on my hair and I look hurt she (more…)

Marcus’ parents came to visit last week. It was the first time they came to visit us here in Ireland and it’d been a few months since we’d last been to see them. They first and foremost came to play with Sophia of course, but we also wanted to show them a little of the city and Ireland while they were here. The only trouble was that the weather forecast promised rain for the entire weekend.

Marcus laughs at me when I say this, but I pride myself in being able to interpret the iPhone weather app and predict exactly how it will unfold in Irish weather.

Rule of thumb #1: Less than 50% chance of rain is basically no rain at all.

Rule of thumb #2: If you’re looking at the forecast more than 3 hours ahead it is likely that (more…)

We finally did it! We had the most perfect day at the Cliffs of Moher this weekend! Along with Northern Ireland these cliffs are what everyone has been telling us to go see as soon as the sun was out. I can’t believe how lucky we were to have such amazing weather! It’s just the BEST feeling after that first summer day spent outside by the water feeling crispy sun kissed!

SO! We were so happy to be able to take this trip with two of our Dublin couple friends and their kids. We all drove down to Doolin on the west coast Friday night to stay in the most perfect little Bed and Breakfast called the Cahermaclancy Lodge. It’s run by the nicest family who (more…)

A few weeks ago in church we talked about the importance of education. When the subject was announced I cringed a little in my seat and braced myself for 45 minutes of feeling sad and guilty that my non-existent bachelor’s degree is currently a jumble of mismatched courses with no hope of being put together anytime soon.

I’ve been feeling a little self-conscious lately about not having an education. I’ve especially felt overly sensitive if I’ve accidentally (more…)

So I started doing these Life Lately posts in order to keep all you guys up to date, but I’m finding that now I’m completely just doing it for me! It’s just such a great way of documenting the little things month by month. I imagine I’ll go back and look through these and go, “Oooooh, that’s when we did this and that!”.

I got her this doll stroller this past month and she LOVES it! She just pushes it around the apartment wherever she happens to be going. The stroller hangs out everywhere. Under the dinner table, in the bathroom, next to the big stroller, next to her bed…. you get the picture. One thing that she just has to keep trying once in a while is (more…)